Chvátal closures for mixed integer programming problems

Chvátal introduced the idea of viewing cutting planes as a system for proving that every integral solution of a given set of linear inequalities satisfies another given linear inequality. This viewpoint has proven to be very useful in many studies of combinatorial and integer programming problems. The basic ingredient in these cutting-plane proofs is that for a polyhedronP and integral vectorw, if max(wx|x P, wx integer} =t, thenwx t is valid for all integral vectors inP. We consider the variant of this step where the requirement thatwx be integer may be replaced by the requirement that be integer for some other integral vector . The cutting-plane proofs thus obtained may be seen either as an abstraction of Gomory's mixed integer cutting-plane technique or as a proof version of a simple class of the disjunctive cutting planes studied by Balas and Jeroslow. Our main result is that for a given polyhedronP, the set of vectors that satisfy every cutting plane forP with respect to a specified subset of integer variables is again a polyhedron. This allows us to obtain a finite recursive procedure for generating the mixed integer hull of a polyhedron, analogous to the process of repeatedly taking Chvátal closures in the integer programming case. These results are illustrated with a number of examples from combinatorial optimization. Our work can be seen as a continuation of that of Nemhauser and Wolsey on mixed integer cutting planes.Supported by Sonderforschungsbereich 303 (DFG) and by NSF Grant Number ECS-8611841.Supported by NSF Grant Number ECS-8418392 and Sonderforschungsbereich 303 (DFG), Institut für Ökonometrie und Operations Research, Universität Bonn, FR Germany.     

Results on the Generic Kurepa Hypothesis

K.J. Devlin has extended Jensen's construction of a model ofZFC andCH without Souslin trees to a model without Kurepa trees either. We modify the construction again to obtain a model with these properties, but in addition, without Kurepa trees inccc-generic extensions. We use a partially defined -sequence, given by a fine structure lemma. We also show that the usual collapse of Mahlo to ₂ will give a model without Kurepa trees not only in the model itself, but also inccc-extensions.     

On the dimension to represent a graph by a unit distance graph

It is proved that if a graphG has maximum degreed, then its vertices can be represented by distinct unit vectors inR ^2d so that two vectors are orthogonal if and only if the corresponding vertices are adjacent. As a corollary it follows that if a graph has maximum degreed, then it is isomorphic to a unit distance graph inR ^2d.     

Statistical mechanics of probabilistic cellular automata

We investigate the behavior of discrete-time probabilistic cellular automata (PCA), which are Markov processes on spin configurations on ad-dimensional lattice, from a rigorous statistical mechanics point of view. In particular, we exploit, whenever possible, the correspondence between stationary measures on the space-time histories of PCAs on ^d and translation-invariant Gibbs states for a related Hamiltonian on ( ^d+1). This leads to a simple large-deviation formula for the space-time histories of the PCA and a proof that in a high-temperature regime the stationary states of the PCA are Gibbsian. We also obtain results about entropy, fluctuations, and correlation inequalities, and demonstrate uniqueness of the invariant state and exponential decay of correlations in a high-noise regime. We discuss phase transitions in the low-noise (or low-temperature) regime and review Toom's proof of nonergodicity of a certain class of PCAs.     

Superdegenerate point in FCC phase diagram: CVM and Monte Carlo investigations

We investigate the topology of the phase diagram of binary alloys on the fee lattice with first-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions around the superdegenerate point, where the L1₀ and L1₂ phases meet. We treat the system as a hard-constraint lattice gas, following a procedure previously described by Lebowitzet al. We perform cluster variation method calculations in theT0 limit and Monte Carlo simulations directly atT=0 K on the ground states of the superdegenerate point. We find that: (i) there is no disordered phase in the neighborhood of this point; (ii) a phase L for which two of the four cubic sublattices have the same average occupancy and each of the two others are different appears between L1₀ and L1₂; (iii) the transition L/L1₂ is of first order.     

Infinite-order phase transition in a classical spin system

For an exactly soluble classical spin model with long-range inhomogeneous coupling it is proved that in the absence of external magnetic field the free energy is aC function of the temperature at the critical point.     

An extended continuous Newton method

This paper describes a numerical realization of an extended continuous Newton method defined by Diener. It traces a connected set of locally one-dimensional trajectories which contains all critical points of a smooth functionf: ⁿ . The results show that the method is effectively applicable.The authors would like to thank L. C. W. Dixon for pointing out some errors in the original version of this paper and for several suggestions of improvements.     

Two-dimensional exponential model of the Euclidean field theory

It is proved that the two-dimensional exponential model of the field theory is trivial for ² > 8.Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 469–477, April, 1990.     

Ray Theory of the Diffraction of Sound by an Inhomogeneous Membrane

Present address: Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EW, U.K. In this paper, a ray approach is developed for calculating theacoustic radiation into a fluid generated by a localized forcingon an elastic boundary. We consider here the case of fluid-loadedmembrane with a rigid line-mass distribution subject to infiniteplane-wave incidence from the fluid. It is demonstrated howray methods can be used to determine each of the constituentwaves of the scattered acoustic field, showing that non-uniformitiesarise whenever two such waves have tangential wavefronts. Transitionanalyses are presented to remove these non-uniformities, resultingin the prediction of beam-like structures in the scattered field.     

Vibrotactile temporal gap detection as a function of age

The ability of subjects to detect temporal gaps between bursts of sinusoids or bursts of bandlimited noise was measured to evaluate the phenomenon of tactile "sensory persistence" in older persons. Vibratory stimuli were delivered to the right thenar eminence of 27 subjects ranging in age from 8-75 years. The subjects' task was to detect the presence of a silent interval or "gap" between flanking 350-ms vibrotactile stimuli. The gap-detection threshold, expressed as the amplitude of vibration relative to the absolute detection threshold, decreased as the gap duration increased and was higher for gaps in noise than for gaps in sinusoids. The threshold for detecting short gaps increased with age for noise stimuli, but not for sinusoidal stimuli. Furthermore, the gap-detection threshold recovered more rapidly in older subjects for noise stimuli, but less rapidly in older subjects for sinusoidal stimuli. Because of these differences, it appears that the effects of age on gap detection cannot be due to a simple increase in sensory persistence, but may be due to multiple processes.